Using personal construct methodology to explore relationships with adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Whilst this exploratory study highlighted some commonality in terms of perceptions of family support and friendships as protective and desirable, participants differed in their ability to establish and maintain peer relationships. Participants valued personal qualities such as intelligence, humour and trust within relationships, and recognised the important role of peers and siblings in the development of social skills, a finding which has implications for the delivery of social skills training and other interventions. The study provides empirical support for the application of personal construct methodologies in ASD research and offers a potentially useful approach to therapeutic intervention.

How do peers promote social inclusion of children with disabilities?A mixed-methods systematic review

“…Study samples focused on children with disabilities [46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65], children with and without disabilities [66][67][68][69], as well as children without disabilities [70][71][72]. The type of disabilities or conditions included physical disabilities, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, autism spectrum disorders (including Asperger's syndrome, as previously classified in the DSM-IV [73]), intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Noonan syndrome, brain injury, Spina bifida, cystic fibrosis, post meningococcal disease, severe asthma, and tracheostomy.…”

“…The type of disabilities or conditions included physical disabilities, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, autism spectrum disorders (including Asperger's syndrome, as previously classified in the DSM-IV [73]), intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Noonan syndrome, brain injury, Spina bifida, cystic fibrosis, post meningococcal disease, severe asthma, and tracheostomy. Study participants were preschoolers [50,62,67,69], primary-school-aged children [46,[48][49][50][51][55][56][57][58]60,65,66,[68][69][70]72], and secondary school-aged adolescents [48,50,52,54,56,59,61,65,66,[69][70][71]. Only five studies involved recruitment of participants from the community [47,53,59,63,64], whereas all others were conducted in the school setting.…”

“…In addition to reports of feeling accepted, children with disabilities, however, also reported feeling different, being aware of their difference, and having to work hard to keep up in with their peers [48,50,56,57,59,66,81,83]. Children were also aware of being treated differently by typically developing peers and teachers and of differences in support service needs as compared to those without disabilities [56,66].…”

“…Friendships. Some children with disabilities reported valuing friendships and longing for meaningful friendship connections [48,52,58,59,61,64], while others expressed little motivation to make new or strengthen existing friendships [65]. Some children reported happy and positive relationships with "best friends" who did not have a disability [57], whereas others reported negative experiences, including not having a single friend and feeling lonely [61,81,83].…”

The “Muscles of the Psyche”: From Body Literacy to Emotional Literacy

“…Alongside these "functional" modes of treatment, it is broadly recognized that the emotional aspects of the autistic condition call for psychotherapy, and various modes of "emotional" therapy focus on the inner reality of the child, the development of the self, the child's attempts to express him/herself, his/her anxieties, inhibitions, defenses, and the way in which she/he perceives and experiences the world. Most of the research on ASD relates to psychotherapies, such as personal construct theories, family-focused therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT; Hare, 1997;Cardaciotto and Herbert, 2004;Wood et al, 2015;Murphy et al, 2017;Storch et al, 2020). CBT takes center stage in research with ASD and numerous randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have shown that it is effective for treating anxiety disorders in adults, adolescents, and in children diagnosed with ASD (Sukhodolsky et al, 2013;Hesselmark et al, 2014;Vasa et al, 2014;Spain et al, 2015;Wood et al, 2015).…”